Personality testing isn’t a niche HR trend anymore—it’s a mainstream business tool shaping how companies hire, train, and build teams. Today, personality assessments influence millions of workplace decisions, from who gets interviewed to how managers communicate with staff.
At Jackson Advisory Group, we analyze how data-driven tools like DiSC and Hogan are reshaping hiring and leadership in the trades and service industries. Personality testing can improve alignment when applied with structure and transparency—but misuse can backfire fast.
This article unpacks the real numbers behind adoption, the industries leading the charge, and the growing debate over validity and ethics. You’ll see where these tools add value, where they fall short, and what to ask before you take or use one.
How Many Companies Use Personality Tests
Large firms widely use personality tests, with HR teams applying them for hiring and employee development. Numbers vary by source, but several clear patterns show who uses these assessments and why.
Statistics on Corporate Adoption
About 80% of Fortune 500 companies use personality assessments for recruiting, development, or team building. Surveys highlight the popularity of tools like MBTI, Hogan, DiSC, and newer digital platforms.
Smaller firms use tests less, but adoption is rising among mid-size companies. Reports show roughly 20–40% of mid-market employers use some form of personality testing for selection or development.
- Common uses: screening candidates, leadership development, and team fit.
- Common tests: MBTI, Hogan, DiSC, and custom employer assessments.
Adoption is higher in roles tied to management, customer-facing positions, and talent programs that need behavioral insight.
Industry Trends and Growth
Demand for personality testing grew through the 2010s and continues today. The global market for personality and psychometric testing has become a multi-billion-dollar industry, driven by online tools and AI-driven platforms.
Employers now mix traditional self-report tests with quick visual or game-based assessments. This shift speeds up screening and aims to lower candidate drop-off.
- Trend: move from paper tests to web and mobile delivery.
- Trend: using assessments for development as well as hiring.
Companies now focus more on validating tests for fairness. Legal cases and EEOC actions prompted validation studies and efforts to reduce bias in employment assessments.
Global and Regional Variations
Use of personality testing varies by region. In the U.S. and Western Europe, adoption is highest among large corporations and professional services firms. North America leads in formal validation and legal scrutiny of employment assessments.
In Asia and Latin America, uptake is growing fast but often focuses on talent development rather than strict hiring screens. Small businesses in these regions may prefer low-cost or free tools.
- North America/Europe: high use, strong regulation, and validation.
- Asia/Latin America: rising use, emphasis on development, and team fit.
Your experience with these tests will depend on company size, industry, and local labor laws that govern employment assessments.
Popular Personality Tests Used by Companies
These tests measure work style, team fit, and potential risks. Employers use them to screen candidates, shape teams, and guide leadership development.
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
The MBTI sorts people into 16 types using four pairs: Extraversion–Introversion, Sensing–Intuition, Thinking–Feeling, and Judging–Perceiving. Companies use MBTI in workshops, team building, and some hiring situations because it’s familiar and easy to explain.
MBTI helps start conversations about communication and strengths. It offers simple type labels that help managers match tasks to preferences. MBTI measures preferences, not fixed skills, and psychologists advise against using it alone for selection decisions.
Use results to improve team dialogue and self-awareness rather than as a final hiring filter.
DISC Assessment and Caliper Profile
DISC groups behavior into Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, and Conscientiousness. DISC is common in training, sales hiring, and roles needing clear behavior patterns. Its appeal is practical: it gives quick, actionable language for coaching and role fit.
The Caliper Profile digs deeper into personality traits tied to job performance. Employers use Caliper to predict how you might handle stress, lead others, or solve problems. Caliper reports often include benchmarks against job tasks.
Both tools work best paired with interviews and skill tests to avoid making hiring decisions from behavior labels alone.
Hogan Assessments and Hogan Personality Inventory
Hogan tests focus on bright-side traits (how you work), dark-side risks (how stress shows up), and core values. The Hogan Personality Inventory (HPI) measures normal personality traits tied to job performance. Hogan is often used in leadership selection and succession planning.
Hogan also flags derailers—behaviors that show under pressure.
Employers use these insights to decide who needs coaching or who might struggle in high-stakes roles. Hogan reports are evidence-based and designed for workplace prediction, so they carry more weight in selection than casual quizzes. Expect follow-up interviews to explore results in context.
Enneagram and Other Assessments
The Enneagram describes nine personality types and focuses on motivation and growth. Some companies use it in development programs and coaching to help you understand core drives and stress patterns rather than for hard hiring decisions.
Other assessments include short personality questionnaires, situational judgment tests, and skills-focused psychometrics. These tools range from informal (team-building quizzes) to validated instruments (five-factor model-based tests).
If you face any of these, know which purpose they serve: cultural fit, leadership potential, or task prediction. Ask employers how they use results and whether they combine tests with interviews or work samples.
Personality Tests in the Hiring Process
Employers use personality tests to screen candidates, predict job performance, and guide employee development. Companies choose tools that measure work style, teamwork, and decision-making to save time and reduce turnover.
The Legal Boundaries of Employment Testing
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) monitors assessment use to prevent discrimination. In several high-profile cases, employers faced penalties for relying on tests that screened out protected groups.
EEOC guidance requires validation showing the test is job-related and consistent with business necessity—something many vendors still overlook.
Assessments for Hiring
Employers use standardized assessments to compare candidates quickly. Common tools measure traits like conscientiousness, agreeableness, and emotional stability. You might encounter short surveys, situational judgment tests, or image-based quizzes, depending on the vendor.
Validated tests link specific traits to job outcomes. For example, high conscientiousness often predicts reliable job performance. Tests vary in length and format, so check instructions and time limits before you start.
Tests can reveal sensitive information. Good employers use validated, job-relevant assessments and document how scores relate to job duties. This protects both you and the company from unfair decisions.
Employment Assessment Practices
Companies integrate assessments into multiple hiring stages. You may take a screening test before an interview, a deeper pre-employment battery after a phone screen, or a leadership-focused inventory for management roles. This staged approach narrows the pool while focusing interviews on real skills.
HR teams train managers to interpret results. Scores are only one data point; structured interviews and work samples often predict performance better. Employers that combine tests with behavioral interviews and job simulations reduce bias and make smarter hires.
Ethical employers tell you why they use an assessment, how results affect hiring, and whether accommodations are available under the ADA.
Screening for Culture Fit
Companies use personality tests to assess how well you’ll fit their culture and team. Tests measure preferences like teamwork vs. independence, pace of work, and reaction to pressure. These insights help match candidates to roles where they’ll stay engaged.
Culture-fit screening can help reduce turnover when used fairly. Test results should focus on behaviors needed for the role, not traits tied to protected classes. Ask recruiters how the company defines “fit” and how assessment scores map to job tasks.
If you’re worried a test misrepresents you, request a follow-up interview or provide a work sample that shows your actual behavior and skills.
Key Personality Traits Measured
Tests often measure how you interact with people, how closely you follow rules, how open you are to new ideas, and how you handle stress. These traits help employers predict teamwork, task focus, creativity, and emotional stability.
Extraversion and Introversion
Extraversion shows how much you seek social contact, energy from groups, and comfort with attention.
If you score high, you likely speak up in meetings, enjoy teamwork, and prefer fast-paced roles like sales or customer service. Employers look for extraverted traits when a job needs frequent interaction or public-facing work.
Introversion describes how much you prefer quiet settings, solo work, and deep focus. If you’re more introverted, you may excel at detailed analysis, independent projects, and roles needing careful judgment.
Tests place you on a spectrum, not force a label, so your score can show mixed tendencies depending on context.
Conscientiousness and Agreeableness
Conscientiousness measures organization, reliability, and goal focus. High conscientiousness means you follow procedures, meet deadlines, and prefer planned work. Employers use this trait to predict job performance in roles requiring accuracy, repeatable processes, or strong time management.
Agreeableness reflects cooperation, empathy, and conflict avoidance. If you score high, you likely support teammates, handle feedback kindly, and reduce friction. Low agreeableness can mean a direct style that drives tough decisions.
Companies balance these traits: they want conscientious people who also get along with others, especially in team-based roles.
Openness to Experience and Neuroticism
Openness to Experience shows curiosity, creativity, and comfort with change. High openness suggests you generate ideas, adapt to new tools, and thrive in roles like design, R&D, or strategy. Lower openness favors routine work and clear procedures.
Neuroticism measures emotional reactivity and stress sensitivity. Lower neuroticism means steady performance under pressure. Higher scores can mean stronger stress responses or mood swings that affect concentration.
Employers often prefer low-to-moderate neuroticism for high-stress roles, but knowing your level helps place you in roles with the right support systems.
Applications and Impact in the Workplace
Personality tests shape how companies plan leadership training, build teams, and support individual growth. They give specific data you can use to place people, design development programs, and spot potential gaps in team skills or behavior.
Leadership and Employee Development
Personality data helps target leadership development to real needs. If a leader scores low on assertiveness but high on empathy, assign negotiation workshops and decision-making simulations instead of generic training.
Companies often pair assessments with 360-degree feedback to track progress over time. Use cases include succession planning, identifying high-potential employees, and customizing coaching plans.
Tests flag candidates who may struggle with stress or change so you can provide resilience training early. For employee development, results guide course selection, mentoring matches, and stretch assignments that build skills without guessing.
Improving Team Dynamics
Personality profiles help you arrange teams that balance strengths and weaknesses. If a project needs fast decision-making, pair a decisive, structured person with a creative, big-picture thinker to speed execution and keep ideas varied.
You can also predict conflict hotspots—such as a detail-focused person clashing with a flexible teammate—and set ground rules in advance.
Share role-based profiles during onboarding, run short team workshops on communication styles, and use assessments to design meeting norms. These actions reduce misunderstanding and speed up team performance.
Self-Awareness and Growth
Personality tests give you clear language to describe your tendencies. When you see results—like low openness or high conscientiousness—you get concrete targets for change, such as trying one new method a week or delegating routine tasks. That clarity makes coaching and personal development more effective.
Use results to set SMART goals tied to behavior, not labels. For example, if your score shows low emotional stability, plan daily stress-management exercises and track improvements in weekly check-ins. This turns abstract traits into practical steps for growth.
Limitations and Controversies
Personality tests often promise insight, but they also bring serious questions about accuracy, fairness, and professional debate. You should know where tests can fail and why experts disagree before using them for hiring or career decisions.
Scientific Validity and Reliability
Many popular tests claim to measure stable traits, yet research shows scores can change over time. Sanjay Srivastava’s large-sample work finds personality is more fluid than some tools assume. That matters because a test that gives different results months apart can mislead hiring decisions.
Some instruments based on the Five-Factor Model have stronger peer-reviewed support for reliability than others. Myers and Briggs’ MBTI lacks consistent predictive validity for job performance. Validity studies focus on whether a test predicts real work outcomes; not all tests meet that bar.
When you evaluate a tool, look for published reliability coefficients, independent validation studies, and evidence of predictive power for the specific role. Short, gamified, or image-based assessments often trade depth for speed and may sacrifice reliability.
Bias, Ethics, and Legal Considerations
Personality tests can touch on protected characteristics or mental health signals. That raises legal risks under laws like the Americans with Disabilities Act and Title VII. EEOC cases against major retailers show that using poorly validated assessments led to discrimination claims and settlements.
Watch for questions or scoring that systematically disadvantage groups by race, gender, age, or disability.
Even neutral items can have an adverse impact if they correlate with group membership. Employers must show tests are job-related and consistent with business necessity to defend their use legally.
Ethically, using personality profiles to screen applicants without transparency or appeal harms candidates. If you run tests, provide clear consent, explain how results inform decisions, and allow candidates to ask for feedback. Regular audits for adverse impact and fairness reduce legal and reputational risk.
Alternate Views from Experts
Experts disagree about how useful personality tests are in hiring. Some industrial-organizational psychologists argue that validated trait measures add value when combined with structured interviews and work samples. They point to reduced turnover and better team fit when tests are used properly.
Others, including critics of MBTI and its “type” claims, say these instruments oversimplify people.
Isabel Briggs Myers promoted preferences, not fixed destiny, yet the MBTI is often misused as if types are immutable. Critics warn that treating types as labels can limit how you see candidates’ growth potential.
Weigh expert views based on evidence. Combine tests with direct performance measures and behavior-based interviews. Use personality data carefully, not as the sole gatekeeper.
Personality Tests: Use Them Wisely, Not Blindly
Personality assessments can sharpen hiring accuracy and strengthen team alignment—but only when grounded in science and transparency. Used casually or unfairly, they create risk and misjudgment rather than clarity.
At Jackson Advisory Group, we focus on building systems where assessments complement—not replace—real-world performance. Understanding how and why companies use these tools helps leaders protect fairness while improving team design and leadership fit.
Thinking about using personality tests in your business? Let’s review your systems together. Schedule a 15-minute consult to learn how structured assessment strategies can improve hiring and team reliability without adding red tape.
Frequently Asked Questions
This section answers specific concerns about personality tests: what they help measure, how companies use them, which firms use them most, common problems, and which tools appear most often in hiring.
What are the pros and cons of using personality tests for hiring?
Pros: You can learn about a candidate’s work style, teamwork, and preferred roles. Tests can speed up screening and help match people to company culture. Cons: Results may change over time and might not predict job performance well. Some tests could reveal disability or health issues and lead to unfair rejections.
In what ways do businesses implement personality testing in the workplace?
Companies use tests during pre-hire screening, team-building, leadership development, and when assigning roles. Some add tests to onboarding or promotion reviews. Others combine test results with interviews and work samples for a fuller view of fit.
What's the prevalence of personality tests among Fortune 500 companies?
About 80% of Fortune 500 companies use personality assessments, mainly for hiring, leadership development, and team placement. Prevalence varies by industry and job level.
Are there any issues associated with using personality tests for employment selection?
Yes. Tests can lead to discrimination claims if they screen out protected groups or reveal sensitive health information. Regulators have found violations of civil rights laws with certain test uses. Relying solely on tests can mislead hiring decisions.
Which personality assessment tools are commonly used by companies?
Common tools include Myers-Briggs, DiSC, the Hogan Personality Inventory, and adaptive platforms like Saville or Traitify. Some firms use proprietary platforms that combine behavior questions with job-fit algorithms. Companies choose tools based on the role and what they want to measure.
How do employers benefit from incorporating personality tests in their hiring process?
Employers can reduce turnover by matching candidates to roles where they are more likely to stay. These tests reveal strengths and areas for development, allowing for more targeted training and coaching.
When combined with interviews and performance data, personality tests make hiring more consistent and help screen candidates faster.
